This Sweet Lullaby
by Aria Taylor
Summary: Percy Jackson has a lot to hide. He tries to cover up his secret by showing off his bruises and building up his image as the school bad boy. Anything's better than someone finding out the real reason for his scars and bruises. Annabeth Chase has always been on top, but when she starts to fall for her mysterious class partner, she has no idea how much her life is going to change.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All PJO characters belong to Rick Riordan.**

This Sweet Lullaby

Annabeth

 _You didn't catch my eye right away. I won't deny this. But once you did, I swear, I couldn't look away._

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Annabeth cursed as the paper sliced her thumb and sent searing pain down her finger. She shoved the injured thumb in her mouth and sucked on it before finishing putting up the flyer. She took a step back and stared at her work in satisfaction. Two hundred flyers covered the freshman and sophomore hallway, attached to lockers and walls and water fountains and even the fire extinguisher. Annabeth felt a little uncomfortable having her face covering Goode High School's hallways, but she was used to it by now. She's been running for student body since she was just a freshman. Now, as a junior, she was running with her best friend Thalia Grace for president and VP of the student body.

Traditionally, a junior couldn't run for either president or vice president, but Annabeth was a special exception. She made better grades than most of the seniors and was very popular with the students. So the principal had allowed her to run for vice president only, and Thalia would run for president.

The flyers were clean cut and neat. Annabeth would have it no other way. In fact, she'd gotten into a huge argument with Thalia over how the flyers should look. Annabeth liked traditional red, white, and blue with little graphics and a more professional look. Thalia favored the neon colors and dirty but catchy slogans that they could probably get suspended for. Needless to say, Annabeth won that argument.

Satisfied with her work, she walked down the hall, headed toward the juniors and seniors lockers, where Thalia was putting up posters. When Annabeth turned the corner, she was greeted with the message "VOTE FOR US!" written across the lockers, the letters formed by the flyers. Annabeth's face broke out into a grin.

"Well, that's one way to go about that," she told Thalia, who was standing back and admiring her work.

Thalia smiled and walked up to Annabeth. "You like?" she asked, gesturing to the message. "I figured that if we were going to win, we should go for a 'wow' factor, you know? Instead of just putting up flyers all over the school, why not communicate with them instead?"

Annabeth laughed. She didn't reply, instead moving towards her locker, where one of the exclamation points were taped on it. She did her combination and opened the locker, quickly grabbing her books for first hour Government. She hated that class with a fiery, burning passion. Sure, one day she wanted to go into politics, but having that class for her _first hour_ was just cruel.

People were rapidly filling the halls. School began at eight, and when Annabeth glanced at her watch, she was surprised to see that it was ten 'til. Time flies when you're having fun, she guessed. Her and Thalia had been up at the school since 6:30, putting up flyers and posters and stuff for their campaign.

"So I was thinking," Thalia said, leaning against the locker next to Annabeth's, "we should throw a big party for our campaign. You know, do it like the real politics. They always throw some kind of campaign party that kind of sets it all into motion. We should do something like that."

Annabeth nodded. A campaign party sounded like a great idea. Not only would it be the first big party of the school year, but it would give both her and Thalia a great opportunity to talk to people and win their vote. "That's actually not a bad idea," she said, ignoring Thalia's eye roll. "My house or your house?"

"My house," Thalia answered. "It could be a pool party, since it's still warm here in good ole California."

Annabeth smiled. Thalia was from New York. She wasn't used to the California heat, even after living here for four years after moving in with her dad. Her dad, who was a multi-billionaire and had a house the size of Buckingham Palace, complete with a game room, movie theater, and saltwater pool the size of the Atlantic Ocean.

"Two weeks," Thalia announced, thinking out loud. "We'll have it in two weeks. My dad will be out of town, so he won't be an issue. Hopefully, it'll still be warm enough to swim."

Annabeth opened her mouth to put in some of her own ideas - who to invite, what food to serve, how they're going to announce it - when a familiar blond basketball player hugged her from behind and whispered in her ear, "Hi, Annie."

Annabeth smiled and playfully slapped his arms. "Don't call me that," she scolded, but her tone wasn't harsh at all. She broke out of Luke's grip and turned to face him. He looked really good today. He was in a pair of khakis and a gray Stanford t-shirt that hugged his muscles in a way that made Annabeth's cheeks heat up. His hair was as carefully styled as ever and his blue eyes were fixed on her.

"Sorry," he apologized, adding on an unnecessary, " _Annie_ ," before giving her a kiss on the lips. Annabeth kissed him back for a couple seconds before pushing him away.

"Ick," Thalia gagged. "Can't you two swallow each other's faces when I'm not around?"

Annabeth's cheeks heated, but Luke just answered with a sly grin, "Trust me, we do." That earned him an elbow to the gut, courtesy of Annabeth. They most certainly did _not_ do that. At least, not in the way that he was implying. Sure, they kissed a lot. It was only expected, seeing as they were pretty much dating. Luke hadn't popped the question yet, but still. It kind of went unspoken between them. So sure, they kissed a lot and even had a few make-out sessions, but Annabeth always stopped them before they went too far. And she made sure to never make out with Luke in public. She was a strong believer in being courteous to the people around her. A little PDA was fine, but enough was enough. Unfortunately, a lot of the time, Luke didn't understand that. She's had to push him off of her more than she should have.

Thalia put up a hand. "Spare me the details."

Luke grinned and looked back down at Annabeth. "We still on for Friday night?" he asked.

Annabeth racked her brain because for one panicky moment, she didn't know what he was talking about. Then she remembered that he had texted her the other day and asked her if she wanted to hang out at his house before the big football game that night. She smiled, relieved. "Yeah. We're still on."

Luke smiled. "Good." They heard whooping and calls coming from down the hallway and Luke gave her a sympathetic look. "That's my cue," he said just as his group of friends came down the hall. He gave her another kiss, this one light and fast and more Annabeth's style. "See you in English." Then he ran off to join his friends.

Thalia sighed as she watched him give his friends high fives and crack some joke that they all thought was absolutely hilarious. She shook her head in disdain. "You could do so much better than him," she said.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and shut her locker. "Lighten up, Thals," she said. "it probably won't last. He's a senior and I'm a junior. He'll be off to college next year while I'll still be in high school. I don't think our relationship is strong enough to withstand that."

Just then, Nico di Angelo, another senior, walked past them down the hallway. Immediately, Thalia's eyes hooked onto him. Annabeth shot her a knowing look. "You're totally crushing on him."

Thalia gave her a startled glance. "Luke?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "No. Di Angelo."

Thalia rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything. She kept her eyes on Nico and leaned against the lockers. Annabeth smiled.

"You should ask him to your party."

Thalia gave her a dumbfounded look. "I can't do that. He'd say no."

"Oh, I doubt that."

"Easy for you to say," Thalia said bitterly. "Sorry, but not all of us can be as smart and gorgeous as you are. Any guy would drop their girlfriends to go out with you if you weren't with Luke."

"That's not true." Annabeth's cheeks reddened as she said it. Thalia and their other friend Piper were constantly telling her that she could have any guy she wanted. She could have anything she wanted, really, whether it was the most popular guy in school or the homecoming crown or valedictorian. And as much as Annabeth wanted to deny it, it was sort of true. She did have the most popular guy: Luke Castellan, captain of the basketball team. Everyone kept telling her that the homecoming crown was as good as hers. And she was currently the top of her class. So as much as Annabeth wanted to deny it, she was kind of Goode High School's "it" girl.

Thalia was about to argue, but they were interrupted by loud laughing right next to them. Annabeth turned to find Piper McLean walking towards them, laughing at the formation of the flyers on the lockers. "Thalia?" she asked and Annabeth nodded while Thalia smiled proudly.

"I'd say it was a good use of paper," she commented, staring in admiration at her flyers.

Both Piper and Annabeth rolled their eyes. They started talking about things they could do to better their campaign, the party being a major point. Piper was very helpful in coming up with ideas. Annabeth had tried to convince her to run for something, but Piper refused to. While she was a really good speaker, she wanted to go into the movie business as a director or a producer or something. It made sense. Her father was famous actor Tristan McLean and Piper had a way with people. She could get them to do anything she wanted with a well-worded sentence and a sweet smile. It was these very things that would make her a great politic, but Piper refused to believe Annabeth.

Thalia, on the other hand, didn't know what she wanted to do. She didn't even care. She just liked being in a position of power.

"Jason can help with the party," Piper suggested and Thalia rolled her eyes. Jason Grace was Thalia's little brother and Piper's boyfriend. Thalia absolutely hated the fact that one of her best friends was dating her brother, or at least that's what she claimed. She had told Annabeth once that as annoying as it was, she was glad her brother had Piper. Piper was a good girl.

"Oh, please," Thalia said. "Jason is as helpful as a fly."

Piper opened her mouth to argue, but just then the three girls heard loud, obnoxious laughing coming from down the hall. They turned to find that Celeste was the source of the laughter. Celeste Ramirez was Goode High's queen bee; at least, she was in her own head. Celeste was beautiful, no doubt about it, with her smooth, tan skin, dark, long hair, and big blue eyes, but the way she acted kind of cancelled out all the good things about her. She wore teeny tiny clothes that were totally against dress code and she threw herself at practically every guy in school. Most of the time, Annabeth saw her making out with a new guy every week against the lockers or in a supply closet or something. She was rich also and threw parties all the time. Annabeth never went, but she'd heard the rumors. They were not good parties to attend.

Today, Celeste was in a small red sundress. It looked innocent enough by itself, but the dress was a couple sizes too small, so the end of the dress was much shorter than dress code and the bodice was so tight, that her assets were pushed up until they were almost spilling out. The dress had spaghetti straps and one of them was falling off her shoulder. When Annabeth studied Celeste more, she saw the neckline on that side seemed disheveled, like it had been pulled down a little bit then hastily pulled up. Her dark hair was messy and her lipstick was smeared. Annabeth wrinkled her nose. Honestly, didn't this girl have any self-respect?

She was on the arm of Percy Jackson. He seemed very uncomfortable as she kept biting her lip seductively and leaning forward so he could have a clear view of her chest. Annabeth wanted to laugh out loud when she started playing with the strap of her dress. Her mouth moved with words, but Annabeth was too far away to hear what she was saying.

"That girl is so desperate," she commented to Thalia and Piper. "I mean, what is she even doing?"

Thalia muttered something under her breath that Annabeth couldn't hear. Piper ignored her and said, "I heard that Celeste and her friends made a bet. Celeste is trying to get Percy to ask her out before homecoming."

Annabeth snorted. That was a hopeless cause. Percy Jackson didn't date. He didn't seem to do anything, really. He was the school loner, the outcast. He didn't have one friend that she knew of. He was in a few of her classes, but he didn't look like he did any of the work. He barely uttered a word, even when she would try to have a conversation with him. He seemed to be a bad boy, or at least appeared to be one. He would come to school with bruises every now and then. His nose was crooked, like it had been broken many times.

None of the guys liked him, but he was ever popular with the girls. Maybe it was his mysterious aura or maybe it was just because he was attractive, but whatever it was, girls crushed on him like no other guy at school. And he was pretty good-looking. He had black, unruly hair that stood up at odd angles. He was constantly running his hands through it, which really didn't help its messiness. He was super tall at 6'3 and had beautiful sea green eyes. He had ridiculously long and dark eyelashes and full lips. But he always wore zip-up hoodies with the hood up and old, ripped jeans. Annabeth always tended to veer towards the guys who were smart and clean cut. She wanted a guy who was sure of himself and where he's headed in life. Percy didn't seem like that type of guy.

"Celeste should just give up already," Annabeth commented with a small, amused smile. "No one is ever going to get anywhere with him."

Piper laughed and elbowed her. "I bet you could," she teased.

"Oh, not you too."

"I'm being serious. Nobody _but_ you could get anywhere with him. You could get anywhere with anybody."

Annabeth felt her cheeks heat up. "Okay, I'm going to class now," she said as the warning bell rang. She brushed past Thalia and Piper, who were both laughing at her blushing cheeks. She walked swiftly down the halls to her Government classroom, taking her normal seat in the front. She smiled and greeted a couple of her classmates who sat up front with her. She opened her notebook, dating the page and preparing to take notes. She pulled out her homework and glanced up when Percy Jackson entered the room, taking his usual seat in the back. She pretended not to notice him for a couple minutes, but found herself turning around and glancing at him.

She remembered her earlier conversation with her friends. What they said wasn't true whatsoever. She'd known Percy since middle school. She used to talk to him every now and then, but even then he gave her short, one-word answers. Eventually, she gave up. No one was ever going to get through to him.

As if sensing her gaze, his eyes lifted and met hers. Annabeth found herself unable to pull away for a couple seconds, even as her body temperature rose with embarrassment at being caught staring. Finally, after what seemed like two years rather than two seconds, she broke their staring contest and turned around. Her teacher, Mr. Brunner, was coming up to start the day.

After taking attendance and picking up everyone's homework, Mr. Brunner started talking about a new project they would be starting.

"You'll be working in partners," he said. Immediately, whispers rose around the room as students started claiming partners. Annabeth grinned when Mr. Brunner continued, "And don't start choosing partners because I've already chosen them." Groans around the room. Mr. Brunner grinned, but ignored them. "Your assignment is to create a country and a system of government for that country. You can choose one we learned about or make one up yourself. On this paper I'm about to pass out, you'll find the requirements for this assignment. It's due in a couple of months. Now, without further ado, I'll announce your partners." He started listing names and there were groans and high-fives around the room a people found out who they would be working with. Annabeth sat on the edge of her seat, waiting for her name to be called.

"Amy and Josh. Peyton and Audrey. Percy and Annabeth." He continued, but Annabeth's cheeks colored when she heard who her partner was. She slowly turned around to find Percy staring at her. She gave a small smile, which he didn't return. He looked back down at his desk.

Annabeth sighed and pulled on one of her curls. This project was proving very difficult for her already.

 **So, I know I probably shouldn't be starting another story since I still haven't finished my other one, but I just couldn't help it. I really like this idea. I have a lot of ideas for it and you know how you just get an idea for a story and then that idea just sorta consumes your soul for a while until you finally write it down? Yeah, that's what happened with this story. But I promise, I'll finish my other story, The Most Important Sacrifices. And since I have to finish that, I probably won't update this story as much. Don't expect regular updates.**

 **I do feel like I have to warn you all. This story does contain some dark themes and there might be some triggers in later chapters.**

 **Please leave a review!**

 **"Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty." Matthew 23:11-12**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: All PJO characters belong to Rick Riordan.**

Chapter Two

Percy

If anyone had walked into the boys bathroom in the west wing of the school at exactly 7:48 in the morning, they would have found Percy Jackson staring at himself in the mirror, cursing like a seasoned sailor.

The bruise was huge. And dark. Very dark. Percy didn't know what to do about it. It wasn't like he could just steal his mom's make-up and subtly cover it up. He didn't have a mom, so that plan wasn't an option. Nor could he wear a hat or sunglasses in class. He had tried that tactic before and earned himself a week of detention (he had tried to argue with his teacher, something he had sworn to himself _never_ to do again). The only other options left were either to lie or tell the truth. And there was no way that he was going to tell the truth.

Gently, he touched the tender skin around his eye. Electric bolts of pain shot down his face like his fingers were tasers. He winced and pulled his hand back as another string of curses slipped out of his mouth. It was big, it was dark, and it hurt like crap. This was going to raise questions, Percy knew it. Stuff like this always did. Percy remembered one time last year, when he was just a sophomore, he had come to school with a busted lip and broken arm. Everyone had wanted to know how Percy Jackson, the kid who never said anything, had gotten so beaten up. When some of their theories had hit too close to home, Percy made up a story how he had gotten into a street fight with some kids in his apartment building. That was the day that he had earned his bad boy rep. Percy didn't really mind, though. It was better than the truth.

Angry shouts.

The sound of shattering beer bottles.

Clenched, unforgiving fists that pounded bruises into his skin.

Shaking his head, Percy cleared his mind of those thoughts. He couldn't think about that in school. Ever since his mom died, he had tried to keep memories of home separate from those of school. School was a good place. It was his safe haven. He could deal with the gossip and the cliques and the teachers who looked at him like he was stupid. Those were trivial things. He could deal with them as long as he wasn't home.

Shouldering his backpack, he slipped out of the bathroom and into the crowded hallway. He flipped the hood of his sweatshirt up in a pathetic attempt to cover up his bruise as he navigated through the mass of students. He got a few curious glances but either no one noticed or everyone was used to him showing up at school with injuries and bruises.

He was turning down into the junior-senior hallway when his eyes locked on a familiar blonde. She had her back to him and Goode's basketball star, Luke Castellan, was latched onto her.

Percy's cheeks reddened involuntarily. Annabeth Chase, queen bee of Goode High. She had gorgeous blonde curls that she somehow managed to make look like she had just woken up and ran her fingers through them a few times. But of course, that couldn't be true because no one woke up with hair looking _that perfect_. She had skin that looked like it had been kissed by the sun itself and long, dark lashes that framed her a-little-bit-intimidating-but-still-completely-gorgeous gray eyes. She wore clothes that weren't revealing or three sizes too small for her and she didn't try to act dumb to get guys to like her. In fact, she was at the top of their junior class and she had every guy after her. Including Percy.

So maybe he was a little bit in love.

He couldn't help it. He had been in love with her since middle school, when they first met. She was not only beautiful but kind and just one of her smiles could instantly brighten his mood even on his worst days. If he recalled correctly, she had even talked to him a few times back then, but he had always blown her off, though not without good reason. Middle school had been rough for him. His mom had died, leaving him with a stepfather who used him as a punching bag. No one could blame him for not wanting to drag her into that. That was one of the reasons he didn't talk to her now. He didn't want to drag her into the chaos that was his life.

Also, in circumstances where Annabeth Chase was involved, Percy kind of forgets how to breathe.

He was still staring at Annabeth when he felt a small person saunter their way up to his side. He glanced down to find Celeste Ramirez standing there in all of her I-just-made-out-with-my-latest-boy-toy glory. She smiled brightly at Percy.

"Hi," she said, twirling a strand of dark hair around her finger. Percy resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Apparently, she was going with the sweet, innocent girl approach. Percy knew that she was anything but. He had heard the stories.

"Hi," he replied, knowing he should be polite. He kept his hands in the pockets of his jeans and his eyes everywhere but her.

Celeste glanced past him and with a glance of his own, Percy saw that a gaggle of girls stood on the other side of him, a few feet away from where him and Celeste stood. Again, he had to keep himself from rolling his eyes. This was probably some crazy dare her friends had put her up to.

"So, Percy, I was just wondering," she started, latching onto his arm and leaning forward, "are you doing anything this weekend?"

Percy's eyes swiveled down to meet Celeste's. Was he doing anything this weekend? Other than doing everything humanly possibly to avoid going home, no. Did he want to do something with Celeste? Heck no. He scoured his brain, trying to come up with a good answer.

Well, Celeste thought he was some mysterious bad boy. Might as well add fuel to that fire. "Probably getting into a fight somewhere," he answered, shrugging a bit. Celeste threw her head back so far, Percy thought it was going to fly off from the momentum, and let out a loud, obnoxious laugh. Half of the people in the hallway glanced their way and Percy shifted uncomfortably, immediately putting his head down so no one would see the bruise.

When Celeste was done laughing, she stroked her long, manicured nails down his arm and said in a low voice, "Well, I'm throwing a party at my house this Saturday. I'll be waiting for you." She squeezed his arm and sauntered back over to her friends, who were watching with wide, awestruck eyes. Percy stood there for a second, wondering what the heck had just happened. It weirded him out, how girls giggled and whispered to each other whenever he passed by. More than once, he had thought he had toilet paper on his shoe or something.

Shrugging off the ordeal, he made his way over to his locker, emptying his backpack of the homework he hadn't done the night before and grabbing his Government book. A few of the jocks ran down the hall, whooping loudly at something dumb probably, and not-exactly-purposefully-but-totally-on-purpose-anyway shoving him into the lockers. He banged his face against the cool metal, right on his bruised eye. He moaned and slowly peeled himself off of the flat surface, his hand immediately coming up to cradle the injury.

He swore, one day he would put those idiot jocks in their place.

He stood by his locker for the next five minutes, nursing his injury. He contemplated going to the office for medicine and ice, but decided that would raise too many questions about where he got it and what he was doing. He settled with popping a couple ibuprofen and toughing it out for the rest of the day. When the warning bell rang, he closed his locker and made his way to his Government class.

Annabeth was sitting in her usual spot, right up front and center. She glanced up when he came in and immediately, he put his head down. His cheeks heated up when he thought about how she probably saw what had gone down with Celeste that morning. The idea that she saw him in an uncomfortable situation made him really nervous. He wondered what she thought of him. Then he told himself that he didn't care, that the answer didn't matter when, really, it did.

He sat in his usual seat in the very back of the room, slouching down in the chair to make room for his large frame. Percy was tall - really tall - and over the years, he had filled out. He found now that most of the desks the school had was too small for him. He'd have to stretch out to fit.

Then he felt eyes on him and when he glanced up, he was surprised to find that it was Annabeth Chase who was watching him. He felt a blush rise on his cheeks, but it was nothing compared to the way Annabeth was blushing. She held his stare for about two more seconds before she turned back around in her seat. Percy turned his eyes backs down to the surface of the desk and tried to keep himself from thinking about her and what her stare meant.

Their teacher, Mr. Sawyer, went up to the front of the room just as the final bell rang and as he began to speak, Percy tuned him out, just as he always did. He couldn't care less about _how_ the government works just as long as it _did_ work. He was just here to get a history credit. Plus, it was first hour and Percy was tired. He was a master at sleeping with his eyes open.

That was, until he heard his name being called. He jerked awake, snapping to attention. Thankfully, he heard just enough to know what was going on. He was being partnered with someone for a project. And not just any someone. Panic rose in his throat as he locked eyes with Annabeth. She offered him a small smile, to which he just glanced down at his desk in reply.

Mr. Sawyer released them to start on their projects for the rest of the class period. The students began switching seats, moving to sit next to their assigned partners. Percy watched as Annabeth packed up her supplies and moved gracefully to the seat next to his. When she looked at him, her eyes lingered on the bruise around his eyes and Percy felt his cheeks color. She offered him another smile but when he didn't smile back, she bit her lip and flipped to a new page in her notebook, titling it with a word Percy couldn't make out. Great. His dyslexia always acted up when he was nervous and nothing made him more nervous than being near Annabeth.

"So," she started, looking back up at him, "do you want to do a type of government we've studied, or do you want to make one up?"

Despite his dyslexia and obvious nonexistent enthusiasm for his education, Percy considered himself to be somewhat smart. Even though he hadn't been paying attention to the assignment, he figured out pretty quickly what they were doing just based off of Annabeth's words. He shrugged in response.

She played with her lip and looked back down at the paper, eyebrows furrowed in frustration that she was trying not to show. Instead of getting angry at him, though, she just nodded and said, "Let's do a sort of Parliament type government. A constitutional monarchy."

She wrote that down on her paper, then turned to look back up at him. "We need to come up with a country's name also," she said. Her eyes lifted up to the ceiling, deep in thought.

Percy watched her for a minute, thought for a second, and then said, "Latveria." Annabeth looked back down at him, her eyes wide and startled. Blushing, he fumbled out, "It's, uh, a country from Fantastic Four."

"You talk." Immediately after she said it, Annabeth threw a hand over her mouth as if she was literally trying to keep more words from slipping out. "Crap," she said. "Sorry. I didn't mean to say that. I'm so sorry. It's just that you're so quiet all the time and I don't think I've actually heard you talk since middle school and, oh man, I'm so sorry."

The way she stumbled through her rushed apology was adorable, but Percy didn't say anything. He nodded at the notebook she held. "Write it down," he said. Annabeth bit her lip again and hastily wrote down the name of their country.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked, looking up from her paper. When Percy didn't say anything, she seemed to take that as an opening and said, "How'd you get that bruise?"

Percy swallowed. That was unexpected. Never had he met someone who was so nosy and abrupt. It unnerved him. Immediately, his defenses came up and his mind scrambled for some sort of excuse. He decided to go with his normal response. "I got into a fight."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "With who?"

Percy's palms began to sweat. He couldn't tell whether it was because Annabeth was digging way too much into his personal life or because all of her attention was focused on him and she was really pretty. "Just a guy, uh, who lives a few apartments down from me," he stammered, his cheeks reddening.

"Ah." Annabeth leaned back in her desk, watching him. "Well," she said finally. "If you ever want to tell me the real reason, I'm all ears."

Percy stared at her.

They went back to work (or, Annabeth went back to work; Percy just offered his input every now and then) and the moment the bell rang, Percy sprung up out of his desk and did everything short of sprint out the door. Annabeth, however, was not having it with his quick escape. She jumped up after him and grabbed his arm in the hallway. He turned around to find her there, smiling up at him apologetically.

"Sorry," she said. "I just, uh . . . we should meet."

Percy's eyes practically bugged out of his head. Was she, like, asking him out?

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "For the project, idiot," she corrected and Percy relaxed slightly. Not that he wouldn't have loved to take Annabeth Chase out on a date, but his life was already complicated enough without dragging a pretty girl into it. "We should meet somewhere to work on it."

Percy nodded his consent. "Okay. How about Friday?"

Annabeth shook her head. "The football game is that night," she said. Then she furrowed her eyebrows together. "Are you not going?"

Percy shrugged, not saying anything else. The truth was, he didn't normally go to the school football games. Social gatherings weren't really his thing. But he didn't tell Annabeth that. He didn't want her thinking that he was some recluse or something, which he definitely _wasn't_.

Annabeth bit her lip and nodded, though what she was nodding at, Percy had no idea. "Okay," she said. "How about after school today? At the library?"

Percy shrugged again. "That's fine." Whatever will get him out of the apartment.

Annabeth let out a breath that Percy didn't know she was holding. "Great," she said. She looked like she was about to say more until someone down the hall called her name. She glanced behind her and Percy followed in suit. Luke Castellan was standing there, calling her name, and the look on his face was one of annoyance. Percy could only _imagine_ what he was annoyed about. Probably the fact that Annabeth was talking to him.

Annabeth ignored him and turned back around to Percy. "I have to go. See you after school?" When Percy gave her a small nod, she smiled, then turned back around to go find Luke.

Percy watched her retreating form for a minute, then flipped his hood up to cover his eye, and walked down the hall to his locker.

 **I swear, if you give me a broken man who hates himself and blames himself for everything and then give me a girl who doesn't take any of his crap and brings out the good in him, I will ship that until my dying breath. I mean, come on. That stuff is so adorable.**

 **So, I requested a ton of books from the library today because I have nothing to read, but my birthday is on Monday and all I asked for were books, so I'm going to have, like, thirty books waiting to be read and I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing.**

 **Review!**

 **"No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening - it's painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way." Hebrews 12:11**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: All PJO characters belong to Rick Riordan.**

Chapter Three

Annabeth

"I'm home!" Annabeth called into the apartment, shutting the door behind her. She quickly ran to her room, threw her backpack onto her bed, and then headed towards the one place she knew her father would be: his office.

"Dad?" she questioned, turning the corner and pushing open the door to his office. Sure enough, Fredrick Chase was inside, poring over a book the size of a car tire and tinkering with a model airplane, cursing when he pinched his finger in the gears.

Annabeth's father was a professor at NYU. He taught Advanced Physics and was kind of a genius. However, he was also a huge dork. His shirts were always buttoned wrong and wrinkled, like they had never seen an iron in their lives. His blond hair was always ruffled and sticking up in odd directions. He also had huge glasses, completing the nerd look. But even though he was a huge dork, Annabeth admired him more than anyone else in her life. He was the one who had inspired her to do her best in school. Sure, he had his weird hobbies (like making model airplanes, for instance), but he was kind of Annabeth's hero. He was the one who always pushed her to do her best, whether he even knew it or not.

Annabeth's lips turned up with a small smile and she rapped her knuckles against the door, announcing her presence. Her father looked up in surprise, which was quickly replaced with a smile.

"Annabeth," he greeted, setting down the airplane and coming around to hug her. "How was your day? Did you get all of your posters hung up?"

Annabeth nodded, stepping into the office and throwing herself down in one of the chairs. Her dad went back to his airplane, occasionally glancing at her so she would know that he was listening. "I did, actually," she answered. "My face is now officially plastered across every surface at Goode High School."

"A vast improvement from the usual drab decorum, I assure you," her father replied. Annabeth laughed, her face turning red. Her dad smiled at her before continuing, "So how was school today?"

Annabeth shrugged. "The usual," she answered. "In Government, we were assigned a huge project. We're in partners and we have to create our own country and system of government. I was at the library with my partner, Percy Jackson, just now. That's why I'm late coming home."

In fact, she was _really_ late. She and Percy had spent two hours at the library, trading ideas for their new government. Or rather, that's how Annabeth would have liked it to go. Instead, she spent two hours coming up with ideas and writing them down while Percy just looked around blankly, occasionally nodding in agreement to her ideas. He didn't offer up one single idea. So far, the only thing he had contributed to this project was the country's name, and honestly, who names a country _Latveria_? It was absolutely ridiculous.

"You came in late?" her dad asked, glancing down at his watch. His eyes scrunched up in confusion. "Ah. So it appears you are late. No worries, though."

Annabeth's stomach sank. It shouldn't bother her that her father didn't realize that she had come in late. In fact, most teenagers would be forever grateful for it. Except, Annabeth's dad _never_ realized that she had come in late. He was always so consumed in his work that everything else was just background noise. One time, she had been gone for the whole weekend to go to a concert with Thalia and her father hadn't realized it until she got home Sunday afternoon.

She knew her father loved her. It was just that she wasn't sure if he loved her more than his work.

Annabeth shook off those feelings, just as she always did. She smiled and said, "Have you eaten yet? I can make us some mac and cheese if you want. Maybe some baked potatoes?"

Her father grinned at her. "You're the best." Annabeth smiled and went over to kiss his cheek before leaving the office, closing the door behind her. She went to her room, kicked off her shoes, and tore off her skirt and blouse, replacing it with some comfy sweats and an old t-shirt she'd had for forever. Then she wandered into their small little kitchen, pulling out some potatoes and the box of macaroni and cheese.

While she was cooking, her phone rang, causing her to jump. She grabbed it and without looking at the caller ID, she answered, "Hello?"

"We're moving the party up."

Annabeth sighed. Thalia.

"Why?" she answered, shoving the phone between her ear and shoulder so she could use both hands to make the macaroni and cheese. "Did something happen?"

"My father happened," Thalia said, annoyance practically oozing through the phone and onto Annabeth's shoulder. "Apparently, he scheduled a business meeting that weekend, and it's at our house, and it's a luncheon and Jason and I have to attend so that the Almighty can show off his wonderful kids and make himself look like a wholesome father." She let out an angry huff at the end of her sentence.

Annabeth immediately went into best friend mode. When Thalia got into these moods, she and Piper were usually the only ones who could get her out of it. Still, it was a long and painful process. "Man, what a jerk," she agreed, mostly to appease Thalia. "But look on the bright side, Thals. Since our party is going to be sooner, we can secure everyone's votes before any of the other candidates even have time to write their first speech. _And_ we have time to throw another party. So we can have _two_ campaign parties going for us. That'll lock in our win."

"But the live band I was going to get needs _at least_ a two week notice!" Thalia practically wailed. "We can't win if we don't have good music!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Get a good DJ. No one will care or even notice. They just want good music to dance to, live or not. It's not a big deal."

Thalia paused before saying, "I guess you're right. So the party's moved to next weekend. I'm putting you in charge of invites and decoration."

"Got it," Annabeth said as she added the cheese to the macaroni.

Thalia rambled on for a few more minutes, talking about food and whether or not she should open up the pool for swimming. Annabeth listened and offered up ideas while she finished up the macaroni and cheese and checked on the potatoes.

"Hey, how was your date with that Jackson kid?" Thalia asked, completely out of the blue.

Annabeth paused for a moment just so she could let out a dramatic groan into the phone.

"Wow," Thalia commented. "That bad, huh?"

"Yes. And it wasn't a date."

"Whatever. What happened?"

Annabeth leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. "Well, we were supposed to be brainstorming ideas for our project, but I don't think he came up with one single idea. He just sat there. I swear, he's like a mute puppy or something."

Thalia whistled. "Wow, Annabeth Chase," she said. "I think that's the worst thing you've ever said about someone."

Annabeth blushed. "Shut up. I say mean things about you all the time."

"That doesn't count. I'm your best friend."

"You just _think_ you're my best friend," Annabeth answered, grinning. "I actually just put up with you because your dad's rich."

"Shut up, Chase."

"Love you."

"Hate you." And with that, Thalia hung up. Annabeth laughed and put the phone down before grabbing the potatoes out of the oven. She loaded her dad's up just the way he liked it: butter, sour cream, cheese, and ham. She preferred her baked potatoes with butter, cheese, and bacon. She filled up a heaping bowl of macaroni and cheese and took that and the potato to her father's office.

"Knock, knock," she said, pushing the door open with her hip. She set down the food and her father smiled up at her. He appeared to still be messing with the model airplane. Annabeth tried to glance over at the book he had out, just to see what he was doing with the airplane, but the text was too small for Annabeth to read from a distance.

"So what are you working on?" Annabeth asked, taking a seat across from his desk.

Her dad stuck out his tongue as he fiddled around with some gears at the bottom of the model. "Well, you see," he began, "this is one of the earlier models of the modern plane today. It looks similar in appearance, but it's much different in the way it runs . . ." He rambled on and halfway through, Annabeth got the sense that he was talking to himself rather than her. She tried not to feel hurt by it. That was just the way he was.

Suddenly, he stopped and looked up at her. "Don't you have some homework you need to do?"

Annabeth's throat tightened, but she forced a smile. He wasn't trying to kick her out. She knew that. He was just reminding her of her responsibilities.

"Yeah," she answered, standing up and kissing his cheek. 'Thanks for reminding me. And please, Dad," she said, grabbing his arm to get his attention. "Don't work yourself too hard tonight. Get some sleep. You have an eight o'clock class tomorrow."

Her dad smiled at her, giving her a kiss on the cheek this time. "What would I do without you?" he said. Annabeth laughed and left the office, grabbing her dinner and taking it back to her bedroom, where a mountain of homework awaited her.

 **Well. This is awkward. I don't think I've written for this in a year. Nevertheless, here's (finally) a new chapter for all you wonderful people! Thanks for sticking with me even when it appeared like I had abandoned this. Maybe review, please?**

 **Also, did anyone watch tonight's Once Upon A Time episode? I cried and I screamed and I'm so happy and sad at the same time. I can't wait for next week's finale! And also, who read Trials of Apollo? I have a lot of feelings.**

 **"Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you shall receive, and your joy will be complete." John 16:24**


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